Day 13, Meal 26

For my 26th meal, the kids and I stayed out from our road trip earlier to Sarasota (Sarasota County), and since we were out and about ALL day doing fun family activities, over at the Whitaker Gateway Park and South Florida Museum (gallery at the bottom), we were getting hungry again and headed over to the Bradenton (Manatee County) location. I went with Whole Grain Linguine, Creamy Mushroom/Alfredo & Crispy Shrimp Fritta:

This was a very good meal, although I MUCH preferred last night’s option of the 50% of Garlic Asiago Alfredo instead of the 50% of Creamy Mushroom, as everything else was the same. Yes, a good meal, but just not as good. I’d say 8/10.

This was the first time being asked for the Pasta Pass up-front immediately after ordering, as the server Matt requested to show it to his manager after I placed the order and have it processed. Perhaps this is how they do things @ Bradenton, but it actually worked out great since I didn’t have to wait around after the meal for a manager to process it. However as the meal didn’t show on the Ziosk, I had to request a receipt of the meal. Matt was a fantastic server though, overly accommodating. One of the managers, Kelley, also stopped by the table (we actually talked about my shirt a bit while waiting in the lobby, and I briefly mentioned the whole 8 Weeks of Pasta thing), and she was great too

One of the employees, also named Matt, stopped by to show me his I ❤ Pasta shirt. He said someone told him that I was also wearing that shirt, and he wanted to stop by and say hi. I guess that is what happens when you wear an Olive Garden shirt out in public 🙂

Here is the receipt showing a cost savings of $16.03:

Here is the nutritional information for this meal:

FAMILY FUN DAY PHOTO OVERLOAD:

Bench by the Gulf @ Whitaker Gateway Park

Playground @ Whitaker Gateway Park

Outside the South Florida Museum

Mastadon!

GIANT BATTLESHIP

Manatee Photo Op

Real Manatees!

National Geographic’s “50 Greatest Photographs”

BISHOP PLANETARIUM

Getting ready for the Live Star Talk presentation

Time to head home from Bradenton, FL!

Oh, and this was the girls FAVORITE part of the day, SpacePark 360 at The Planetarium :

Jeff

After losing 70 pounds this year, I'm going on a journey of enjoying carbs and dining out twice a day for the next 8 weeks, for free, while still living a healthy lifestyle. I'll be at the gym daily, and my goal is to not put on a single pound. "Everything in moderation, including moderation" - Oscar Wilde